Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor

15 reviews

emmiej's review

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia

dododenise's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I took a chance at reading a mystery, knowing that in the past those plots don’t work for me. Sadly, this one also didn’t.
Seeing a nonbinary autistic mc is what made me pick up this book in the first place. I loved Sam and the other characters. They were wonderful and pulled me through this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Mental illness, Biphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Ableism, Outing, and Grief

Minor: Car accident and Cancer

ashylibrarian's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I had a great time reading this story and following Sam along their challenging adventure of life in a new town. 

Sam's character is so dynamic and full of emotion that I could not help but feel as if I was next to them the entire time, seeing the story play out from their perspective. 

I appreciated the subtle magical-realism that played into the mystery unfolding.

Can we take a MOMENT to appreciate the relationship Sam has with their dad? The positive representation of a single-father household was truly warming to read about, and the ways in which Sam and Junius communicate and engage with each other are beautiful. It's not perfect and clean all the time, but it felt happy and true. 

I also love the cover!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Bullying, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Death, Biphobia, and Child death

Minor: Alcoholism, Self harm, Cancer, Domestic abuse, and Alcohol

khakipantsofsex's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, Child death, Murder, and Biphobia

Moderate: Ableism and Racism

Minor: Cancer and Self harm

emily_mh's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

There wasn’t anything I hated about this book but I also don’t feel super enthusiastic about it having read it. I’ve broken the book down into its three core elements: 

The mystery. As with all mysteries, this consists of two parts: the investigation and the solution. The investigation was pretty lacklustre. Sam and their friends don’t really figure out anything beyond what’s already obvious. I also feel like a mystery should be peppered with mini reveals as the characters tease out the red herrings, but because of the lack of investigation, there weren’t really any. Because the mystery is the driving force of this book, it didn’t feel driven at all, but kind of wandery. To add to that, the solution was underwhelming. This was because I didn’t really know the suspects beyond surface level archetypal stuff, so none of them were compelling characters. 

The MC. I think Sam was the best part of the book. I loved the autism rep in them especially; it was woven in well with the narrative. They also seemed very real in their trauma responses, especially regarding their belief that they would die prematurely. Sam’s development with regard to their PTSD wasn’t rushed or unnatural, and I loved seeing them be able to find a place in which to belong. Having said all that, because I didn’t like the writing style of this book, and the book is written in first-person, the poor writing style became entwined with Sam’s narrative voice. This was a struggle. 

The romance. The attraction here wasn’t signposted very well, so I didn’t find the romantic connection between Sam and Shep believable. I honestly just wish there hadn’t been a romance at all. 

P.S. I’m not sure how good the adoption rep is here, but I do know that there might be an issue in the fact that we are not given any information on Sam’s background before they are in foster care at age 7. 

Rep: autistic queer ace nonbinary MC, aroace Afro-Latino SC, queer Latina LI, Vietnamese-American SC, bisexual SC, Jewish SC, sapphic Black SC, questioning SC 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Stalking, Hate crime, Transphobia, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Child death, Self harm, Biphobia, and Gun violence

Minor: Classism, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cancer, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Suicide, Alcohol, Car accident, Racism, Alcoholism, Addiction, War, Grief, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Ableism

Major: queerphobia, medical emergency, anaphylactic shock Moderate: migraines Minor: foster system, loss of a loved one, drowning

merle_bookdragon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I don't even exactly know where to start or end but this book was wonderful.

I'm usually not big on murder mystery but I guess if you package it in a YA queer contemporary with a wonderful protagonist it works. I really enjoyed Sam's POV, learning more about how they see the world and of course the wonderful realizations they had when they were finally surrounded by good friends. And my god are good friends groups one of my favorite things in literature. Sam, Shep, Sky, Aidan, and Ronnie and Jax, too, are such a wonderful group and I just wish everyone could be surrounded by such a safe group of people.

I think while this might sound cheesy one of my other favorite things was the wonderful representation we had in this book. Sam is autistic and nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, and they also identify themselves as panromantic and being on the ace spectrum. We also see Latina, Black, Vietnamese, bi, and aroace rep (and more I'm sure) in Sam's friend group and in the LGBTQIA+ club at school. 

The murder mystery part starts slowly and then grows more apparent towards the second half of the book when it becomes obvious that Sam and Shep have stirred a pot that somebody clearly doesn't want to have stirred. I really liked the dynamic development and without any spoilers - I didn't guess who the murder was.

And just for a little bit of emotional pain, because Sam was really good at inflicting that on me:

"I'm not afraid of the dead, Dad. They're dead. [...] The living are scarier."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Bullying, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Biphobia, Death, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Stalking

Minor: Self harm, Alcoholism, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Vomit, and Outing

evelynyle_88's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The story is really creepy somehow, but heartwarming in some way. I love how Sam Sylvester enganged himself with his autistic (neurodivergent) condition in his life. 
I love every minute reading this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Bullying, and Homophobia

Moderate: Murder, Biphobia, and Death

Minor: Self harm, Domestic abuse, and Cancer

aexileigh's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, Outing, Child death, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Biphobia, Bullying, Death, and Transphobia

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Blood, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Domestic abuse

betweentheshelves's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Not only is there great representation in this (the main character is nonbinary, autistic, and on the ace spectrum!) but I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery in here. There's a few hints of something almost supernatural at work (kind of like a ghost), and the characters were great. I especially loved Sam's relationship with their dad. Seeing such a supportive dad in a YA book like this is something I love to see. And a single dad at that!

I will say I didn't necessarily think the romance was necessary for the plot, and it fell a little flat for me. It almost felt like it happened too quickly, and I think I would have rathered that maybe it was just a hint at the end of the story.

However, the mystery worked so well, with strong twists and turns unfolding at every turn. If you like your mysteries with a contemporary spin, I'd definitely recommend this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Biphobia

Minor: Self harm, Cancer, and Domestic abuse

anniereads221's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This book made me emotional in a way i did not quite expect from a paranormal mystery. Sam is non-binary like me. Autistic like me. And asexual like me. And i can't believe there is a character that is like me in those ways all at the same time. They are probably one of my favourite characters. I really enjoyed this book so much. I have not read an autistic character that i have related so much to before with certain things. This book really pulled off the mystery aspect for me. This is a favourite for sure

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Transphobia, Violence, Alcohol, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Ableism, Murder, and Biphobia

Minor: Death of parent and Cancer

Anaphylaxis shock